


The First Year

by old_and_new_friends



Series: The Story of Makroh [5]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, M/M, Marriage, Married Couple, Married Life, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Relationship Study, ships other than makroh are minor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-18 17:01:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29737032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/old_and_new_friends/pseuds/old_and_new_friends
Summary: Iroh and Mako work through their first year of marriage together.Through the hard times and the good, the two learn how to make a relationship, a home and a family.
Relationships: Bolin & Iroh II (Avatar), Bolin & Mako (Avatar), Bolin/Opal (Avatar), Iroh II/Mako (Avatar), Izumi & Mako (Avatar), Korra & Mako (Avatar), Korra/Asami Sato
Series: The Story of Makroh [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1887601
Comments: 14
Kudos: 31





	1. Communication is Key

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not married. I took these off those self-help websites for navigating marriage. I took what I believed to be valuable advice and divided them into twelve months.

Iroh sighed as he rubbed his temples. He hadn’t realized how much paperwork came with being married. He thought getting the marriage license would be the only difficult paperwork task, but it was nothing compared to the number of documents spread out before him.

The door to the apartment opened and Iroh sighed in relief this time. At least Mako was now home to suffer with him.

“What’s your banking information?” Iroh asked, tapping his pen on the document in front of him.

Mako tilted his head as he slid his uniform jacket off his shoulders.

Iroh licked his lips at the way his suspenders pulled over his back when he hung it up.

“Why, do you need my banking information?” Mako asked, turning to him. Mako smirked slightly as he noticed Iroh's attention. “Like what you see?”

“Very much so,” Iroh said, “but that’s going to have to wait, there’s a lot of stuff we need to get in order.”

“Stuff?” Mako asked.

“Wills, medical information, drivers license, banking accounts, payroll apparently,” Iroh said, in confusion.

“Back up a bit,” Mako said, pulling one of the forms towards him. He frowned deeply at it. “We aren’t combining our bank accounts.”

Iroh’s head jerked up towards his husband. “What do you mean?” Iroh asked. “Why wouldn’t we?”

Mako bit his lip and sat next to Iroh.

“Don’t take this personally,” Mako said. “I just want to keep our bank accounts separate. I want, I need, that stability and I need it to be mine.”

Iroh frowned and looked down at the ground. He knew where the need came from and he wasn’t going to argue with Mako over something that made him feel more secure, but Iroh had his own concerns.

“What if something happens to one of us?” Iroh asked. “If something happened to me and you have no way to access my banking account for whatever reason you would need to do so?”

Mako paused and fiddled with the paperwork. “I don’t want to combine our bank accounts,” Mako said, again.

Iroh tapped his pen on the table as he thought. “What if we opened a new one?” Iroh asked.

Mako glared over at him, but Iroh held his hand up to stop him.

“We would keep our current accounts exactly as they are,” Iroh said, “but open a new one we both have access to. That way we can get to each other’s money through a shared account if needed for emergencies, or simply to make paying for things easier. I mean even buying groceries would become a chore if we were constantly trying to keep up with who paid for what. If one of us was spending more than the other for shared things it would cause issues. Logistically, a shared account works best for us. We could take turns putting our paychecks into the account. One pay period, you’d put your pay into your personal account while I put mine into the shared account and then the next we would switch.”

Mako folded the corner of the document he was messing with and Iroh hoped no one would mind. He seemed deep in thought about what Iroh said, so Iroh left him to it and started on making them something for dinner.

He wasn’t surprised when half an hour later, Mako was wrapping his arms around Iroh’s back.

“Okay,” Mako said. “You’re right, and I really appreciate that you respect my boundaries enough not to push.”

“I don’t know your exact reasons, and you don’t have to share them if you don’t want to, but I know enough to leave it,” Iroh said. “I want whatever brings you comfort, but this, having that ability to access something shared, brings me comfort.”

Mako nodded. “I know, which is why I’m taking your halfway mark peace offering for what it is,” Mako said. He kissed the side of Iroh’s neck. “I love you.”

Iroh smiled down at the stove. “I love you, too,” he said, biting his lip slightly. “Which is why I have one more request.”

Mako backed away from him and looked at him in weary curiosity. 

“My family account,” Iroh said. “The one my whole family has access to, including our spouses. I want to put your name on the account as someone with access as well.”

“I don’t need it,” Mako said. Iroh could see his face close off, and had to stop himself from sighing. He really hated when the topic of money came up. Nothing raised Mako’s hackles quicker.

“Neither do I,” Iroh said. “Nor do my parents, or my grandparents. It’s not about needing it, Mako, it's about having access to it just in case. My family doesn’t even use it for personal reasons, most of it’s given to charities and projects my family supports. You could use it that way too.”

Maybe it was underhanded, but Iroh could see the cogs turning in Mako’s head. Having the amount of disposable income that would allow him to help other people the same way Asami did, was certainly tempting to the other man, and Iroh knew it. 

Still, he wasn’t budging on this. Mako would need access to the account eventually should he ever become Fire Prince Consort, so he might as well get it now.

“Fine,” Mako said. “Put my name down, but I’m not touching it. I didn’t earn that money.”

Iroh laughed. It wasn’t a nice sound. “Neither did we,” Iroh said. “Why do you think we give it all away?”

He let the comment drop and Mako did too, neither of them acknowledging the darker side of that statement.

“So how much of that paperwork did we get rid of with this decision?” Mako asked, changing the subject as he looked over at the table.

“Like two documents,” Iroh said.

Mako sighed. “Can we go back to the honeymoon stage?” he joked. “That had less paperwork.”

Iroh laughed, this time much brighter. He reached over and pulled Mako to him by the straps of his suspenders. Mako met him halfway in a soft kiss, Iroh’s laughter still bubbling between them.

“I suppose after dinner we can pretend the paperwork isn’t there,” he said.

“I like that idea better,” Mako replied.

Iroh snapped Mako’s suspenders against his chest before turning back to the stove to finally plate dinner.

“Ow,” Mako said, and Iroh smiled slightly to himself. His victory was short-lived as a harsh smack to his ass had him jolting forward away from his husband.

“Ow,” Iroh said, himself. He turned towards Mako with a pout.

“Fair’s fair,” Mako said, smiling cheekily.

Iroh rolled his eyes. “Fair’s fair,” he repeated.

Mako cleared the table of paperwork as Iroh sat their bowls down. The two sat next to each other rather than across.

Iroh glanced at the stack of papers, glad that at least one thing had been handled.


	2. Grow both Individually and Together

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mako and Korra talk about marriage and Iroh works on his jealousy issues.

Mako leaned back in his seat and turned his face up to catch the sun shining down on the small table he and Korra were sitting at. Korra had called him this morning, seemingly nervous about something as she rambled for twenty minutes before asking him to meet her here.

They had grabbed lunch but throughout the meal Korra evaded bringing up why she called him in the first place.

He was about to ask again, when she finally did.

“How did you know?” Korra asked.

Mako sat up in his seat and raised a brow at her.

“Know what?” Mako asked.

“That you and Iroh were ready to get married,” Korra said. She wasn’t looking at Mako as she said it, in fact she was focused heavily on her straw.

“Iroh might be the better person to ask,” Mako said, already knowing it was a lost cause. 

Iroh had a few hang ups over Mako’s ex-girlfriends, due to a previous bad relationship. Meaning his relationship with Mako was something he’d never talk to either of the two women about.

Korra gave him a look, likely just as aware of Iroh’s hangup as Mako was, even if she didn’t know the reason. She and Asami had afterall assumed they weren’t invited to the wedding because of it. Iroh wasn’t that cruel though and knew the two women were important to Mako. It was something he was working on and Mako was proud that he was at least trying, even if some days Iroh struggled more than others.

Still, Korra was right. It was a stupid suggestion.

“Okay, well,” Mako said. “I wasn’t really thinking rationally at the time that Iroh asked. Kind of running on adrenaline and when I calmed down I panicked a bit. I had to think about it for a while. I didn’t tell Iroh at the time, as I didn’t want to worry him. Ultimately what gave it away was that time I took thinking. I watched what we did closely and realized that marriage really wasn’t going to change much about us.”

Mako made a face at that. It had been a naive thought at the time. The huge amount of paperwork and late night discussions the two of them had been having was testament to that. Mako and Iroh had talked about topics in the last month that neither of them ever thought they would need to.

The hardest had been writing up their wills. They each had two, a personal one and a joint one. Iroh had suggested it in relation to their decision on their bank accounts. Writing their joint will had dragged up a lot of memories Mako wanted to forget of those nine months Iroh had been gone with no way to contact him.

He was glad Iroh had gotten his new job. Iroh wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon, and he seemed a lot less stressed with his new position than his old one.

“We had been together for three years at that point,” Mako said, as Korra finally looked up at him, “and we had built that relationship around us. We lived together and knew each other's schedules by heart, he knew each other at our worst and our lives had become so entangled it didn’t really matter if we entangled it more. I couldn’t imagine a day without him there.”

Korra nodded. “I want to marry Asami,” Korra said, “but after listening to you, I don’t think we’re ready.”

Mako hummed, having figured as much. “Maybe don’t jump from dating to marriage so quickly. You two don’t even live together,” Mako agreed. “It works for some people, but as your ex-boyfriend, I’m going to go out on a limb here and tell you I don’t think it will work for either of you. Give yourself room to breathe, if it’s strong enough for marriage, it will be there in a year. Trust me, having to wait a full year to get married taught me that much.”

Mako laughed slightly to himself, and Korra smiled up at him.

“Thanks, Mako,” Korra said. “I was nervous to ask you because of our history but you’ve grown a lot when I wasn’t looking. Where’s the awkward boy who would have self-destructed when I asked that?”

Mako blushed. “I don’t know, guess he grew up,” Mako said. Though Mako wouldn’t say he wasn’t still awkward at times, he just wasn’t as awkward.

“I guess he did,” Korra agreed. “I guess we all did. I missed a lot and even now I’m still catching up with things I wasn’t here for.”

“You had to grow too,” Mako said, shrugging slightly. “We all did, somewhat separately. I think it's what we all needed. There are things I don’t know about you or even my own brother that happened in that time. We're getting there.”

Korra grabbed his hand across the table. “Yeah,” Korra said. “Thank you, Mako.”

“You got it,” Mako said, moving to pay the bill now that the conversation seemed to be drawing to a close. Korra hugged him tightly as they went their separate ways.

Mako couldn’t help but think of what he and Korra had spoken about as he walked home.

Iroh was laid out on the sofa reading a book when he got there. He glanced up at Mako but didn’t ask where he had been. Mako smiled to himself.

“I can feel your curiosity burning,” Mako said. “You can ask me how it went or what she wanted.”

Iroh’s face flushed. “I didn’t want to pry,” Iroh said. “I trust if it was important you would tell me.”

“I would,” Mako said, pushing and shoving at his husband until he settled with Iroh leaning against him. “Korra wanted relationship advice for her and Asami. She’s thinking of marriage but I think she got ideas of someday mixed up with the instant gratification of doing it now.”

Iroh raised a brow as he looked up at Mako.

“Is she going through with it?” Iroh asked, surprised.

“I don’t think so,” Mako said. “Hopefully what I said slowed her down a bit.”

Iroh hummed and turned back to his book. He seemed calm and Mako was very happy to see it. Sometimes hanging out with his ex-girlfriends made Iroh extremely uneasy. His last boyfriend had left a lasting scar on Iroh, and Mako was glad to see him working through it, as hard as it was sometimes.

“One last piece of paperwork,” Iroh said, changing the topic before Mako could mention it. “It’s sitting on the side table behind you waiting for your signature.”

Mako nodded and turned to look at what the final document that would tie their lives together was. It was the apartment lease. Mako had forgotten that he wasn’t on it. Having lived here a little over three years now, it was a startling realization. 

Mako read over it carefully, before signing his name at the bottom.

“Guess this makes this our place now,” Mako said.

“Always has been,” Iroh said. “Now it’s just official.”

That sounded about right.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not sure this one stayed on target but I liked the idea too much to trash it.
> 
> Next one should come next week, but we shall see.

**Author's Note:**

> Fun Fact: This is the 50th story I've posted! Yes, I intentionally made it Makroh.


End file.
